The Oscars were a big night for Universal Music Group after all.
The 88th Academy Awards, which took place at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles last night (Feb 28), resulted in awards for both Capitol-signed Sam Smith and the UMG-produced movie AMY.
Just like it did at the BAFTAs, AMY – the harrowing real-life tale of Amy Winehouse – picked up the prize for Best Documentary.
Director Asif Kapadia told the Oscars crowd: “This film is about Amy and showing the world who she really was, not the tabloid persona. We just wanted to make a film to show the world who she really was.”
AMY was funded by Universal Music Group, produced by James Gay-Rees and exec produced by both Universal Music UK‘s boss David Joseph and Director of Business Affairs Adam Barker.
“We just wanted to make a film to show the world who she really was.”
Asif Kapadia, AMY Director
Meanwhile, Sam Smith’s Writing On the Wall won an Oscar for Best Original Song at the 2016 ceremony.
The title track from Bond movie Spectre, which collected a Golden Globe earlier this year, was co-written by Jimmy Napes, who joined a visibly emotional Smith on stage to collect the gong.
“I read an article by Sir Ian McKellen saying no openly gay man had ever won an Oscar,” said Smith. “If this the case – even if this isn’t the case – I’d like to dedicate this to all the LGBT community around the world. I stand here tonight as a proud gay man and I hope we can all stand together one day.”
Elsewhere in the music prizes, legendary composer Ennio Morricone won the first Oscar of his of his career for Best Original Score for his work on Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight.
To cap off the night for Universal, it was the record company which released The Hateful Eight score via Decca.
The Oscars 2015: All The Winners
Best Picture: Spotlight
Direction: The Revenant, Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Actress: Brie Larson, Room
Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Supporting Actress: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Adapted Screenplay: The Big Short, Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
Original Screenplay: Spotlight, Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy
Cinematography: The Revenant, Emmanuel Lubezki
Production Design: Mad Max: Fury Road, Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson (set decoration)
Film Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road, Margaret Sixel
Visual Effects: Ex Machina, Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett
Costume Design: Mad Max: Fury Road, Jenny Beavan
Makeup: Mad Max: Fury Road, Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin
Sound Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road, Mark Mangini and David White
Sound Mixing: Mad Max: Fury Road, Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo
Score: The Hateful Eight, Ennio Morricone
Song: Writing’s on the Wall from Spectre, Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith
Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul (Hungary)
Animated Feature: Inside Out
Documentary Feature: Amy
Animated Short: Bear Story
Documentary Short: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Live Action Short: Stutterer
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